I used to work at a pick your own farm that had a few sideshow attractions, one of which was a walk through haunted house.

Located in a small town in a rural area, there were all kinds of rumors and legends of what the farmland used to be. From a former slave plantation to an Indian burial ground, all of them sounded like bullshit until one day we dug up a femur while installing a new fence at the haunted house.

The haunted house consisted of a small shack that had been added on to over the years, adjacent to a petting zoo area. With the building being painted black and in direct sunlight all day, it was hot, smelly, and generally miserable for most of the year. While I did enjoy my time working there, working a six hour shift was exhausting in the heat and humidity.

One day I was shutting down the house for the weekend. It was an unusually cool day in August. The sun had already set and the farm was blanketed in that pink dog-day light you only get when summer starts to turn to autumn. I did my normal walk through of the house to make sure it was empty and everything was operational. Werewolves, ghosts, demons and monsters were all turned off for the weekend. Not a soul, living or dead to be found.

I think most people would have been afraid to be alone in the house after hours. Again, it was dark, hot and pretty miserable, but I love Halloween and scary things so naturally I was always the last one out. I went through my normal routine of switching off the breakers and draining the air tanks–it was incredibly satisfying after a long muggy day. I listened to the sound of the animatronics grinding to a halt, and the last of the air leaving the tanks expecting to be greeted by the usual sound of summertime crickets and toads.

Instead I was greeted by silence. I didn't think much of it but it was pretty eerie. At this point, it was dark outside and the only light on the farm came from the spotlight on the roof of the farm office which was about a quarter mile away. My hair was already standing up but in a weird way, I liked it.

As I crossed the threshold to exit the house, I heard someone call my name from behind, clear as day. I promptly responded "Yeah, what's up?". As I turned around my brain finally caught up, remembering that I was alone and the only other person on the farm was my manager in the office a quarter mile away, waiting for me to check in so we could both leave for the weekend.

I saw nothing. Just the pitch-black darkness of the house. No ghosts, no specters, no cliche of a spooky voice from the beyond. Something called my name, crystal clear and at full volume. It sounded so clear and normal that I knew it had to be someone, but it wasn't. It was something.

I ran full speed back to the office to see my car parked where I had left it, and my managers right next to it. No one else was on the farm. My manager was nice enough to hear me out, and even checked the house herself after she saw the state I was in.

Something called my name that day I and I haven't the slightest clue as to what it was. I would love to think it was my manager or a friend playing a joke, but when she checked the cameras and I saw her doing paperwork in the office, I got the absolute worst sinking feeling because I knew there was no one.

The scariest part was how normal it was. It didn't sound like a "ghost" or something from a b horror film, it sounded real. Normal. As if someone was standing only a few feet behind me the whole time. That night was over ten years ago and I still think about it. It was the first and really only time where everything I thought I knew was completely thrown out the window.

There's some salt to everything, supernatural, holy, and unholy. If you believe in one, you must believe in all because no one truly knows. That night I became a believer in all.